The new Lippia cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor, Masataka Ohde, in Oyama, Japan. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Lippia varieties for ornamental commercial applications. The cross resulting in this new variety was made during May 2008.
The seed parent is Lippia canescens ‘Campanga Verde’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,120. The pollen parent is an unpatented, unnamed Lippia nodiflora. The new variety was discovered on Jul. 1, 2010 by the inventor in a group of seedlings resulting from the 2008 crossing, in a research greenhouse in Oyama, Japan.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘ECOLOPIA2’ was first performed at a commercial greenhouse in Oyama, Japan by terminal vegetative cuttings on Jun. 4, 2010. More than 3 generations have been reproduced by vegetative cuttings. Subsequently, propagation has also shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.